


Who you gonna call?

by ladyc2



Category: Kanjani8 (Band)
Genre: AU, Ghost busting, Ghosts, Kissing, M/M, Minor Yasu/Ohkura, Past Ryo/Ohkura, Subaru is a ghost, haunted apartment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22367989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyc2/pseuds/ladyc2
Summary: Ohkura's new apartment is haunted
Relationships: Maruyama Ryuhei/Ohkura Tadayoshi, Shibutani Subaru/Yasuda Shota
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8
Collections: Je-united Exchange 2020





	Who you gonna call?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [te_chan11](https://archiveofourown.org/users/te_chan11/gifts).



Ohkura placed the figurine carefully on the shelf. He looked around satisfied. His unpacking was finally done. He turned back to look at the shelf and then frowned as a thought occurred to him. He would likely have a housewarming party sometime in the next few weeks. Maybe Yoko would finally give him the beckoning cat that he'd given to all their other friends except him. He should make a space for it now — and if Yoko visited before the party, he might just get the hint. He quickly rearranged the shelf to leave a space and once again surveyed the room, spotting a few plushies lying on his couch that he had meant to put in his bedroom. He walked over and grabbed them, giving them a squeeze as he took them to their right spot, placing them carefully with his other plushies. The whole pile of them were so cute — it made him smile. He had a good feeling about this place.

He returned to the living room, but stopped dead as his eyes swept across the shelf. The figurines were back to their previous order with no space for the cat. All this unpacking must have been messing around with his head. He must have just thought about moving them, without actually doing it? He shook his head to clear it, and then walked over and rearranged them again. _There._ Maybe he should get something to eat. He moved to the kitchen to cook himself a snack.

As he moved back into the main room his eyes unconsciously travelled to the shelf, where the figurines were again arranged in their original order. He jumped back in surprise. Okay, there's no way he could have forgotten to actually move them _twice_ , no matter how tired or hungry he was. _Could he?_ He walked over to them slowly, and picked one up. It felt cold to the touch. Really cold. He put it down quickly and backed away his head swivelling from side to side as if he could spot whatever was going on here. He nearly jumped a metre in the air as his phone rang. He put a hand over his heart as if that would stop it's sudden hammering within his chest.

He picked up the phone and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked carefully.

"Hi," Yasu's voice came cheerfully through the speaker and that calmed down Ohkura, more than anything else could have.

"Is everything alright?" Yasu asked as Ohkura remained silent.

"Oh, yeah, just tired from unpacking. You know how it is."

"You've finished? We should celebrate."

"Yeah," Ohkura nodded as he answered, even if Yasu couldn't see it. He let Yasu's voice wash over him as rambled about the bars and restaurants around Ohkura's new apartment and which ones sounded exciting to try. It was comforting to listen too and it eased his tension. He was probably just being silly. Letting the nerves get to him; nervous about the move, about starting over again, alone.

"You're being quiet again. Are you sure everything's okay?"

"Sure. That last place sounded good. I could do with a drink."

"Okay, I'll meet you there. Bye bye."

"Bye,bye," Ohkura replied, knowing that Yasu would bug him endlessly if he didn't say it back. The thought made him chuckle.

He pocketed his phone, grabbed his wallet and headed out the door.

***

"To new beginnings," Yasu toasted, holding his beer up.

"To new beginnings," Ohkura echoed, clinking their glasses together. He took a long drink, savouring the flavour and letting the last dregs of tension ease from his body.

"So when's the housewarming?" Yasu asked.

"Haven't decided yet," Ohkura answered, "but you don't have to wait for the party to visit, you know that."

"I know, but I need to know when to get your gift by."

"Don't worry, I'll give you plenty of warning. I mostly feel like I want to sleep for a week first though. Unpacking is so tiring."

Yasu hesitated for a second.

"Do you think you'll invite," he paused for a second, "him?" he finally settled on.

Ohkura sighed. He'd done his best over the last - how long had it been now? Over two months or so - not to think about him; he was actually a little surprised at how well he'd managed it. Despite that, Yasu's question still caused a pang in his heart. On the surface the split had been amicable, neither side clearly in the wrong, and they had promised to stay friends, but so far there hadn't been any attempt at reconciliation, just distance. Ohkura wondered if they'd ever get there.

"I don't think I'm ready for that yet," he admitted.

Yasu put his hand on his shoulder in reassurance. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, i hasn't been that long and I know how tough it was."

Ohkura shook his head. "No, it's okay." He tried to put his thoughts into words. "I can admit that he wasn't the asshole. Or at least that he wasn't the only asshole," he amended after a moment, "but it's still too raw. I know you guys are still friends and that's okay, and I will get there one day. I promise. Just not right now."

Yasu squeezed his shoulder. "I understand. Take your time." He changed the topic after that, to something more light-hearted. Ohkura really appreciated that, letting Yasu's bubbly enthusiasm for life lift his spirits once again.

***

Ohkura woke with a start. He blinked sleepily trying to figure out what disturbed his slumber, but the darkness brought no answers. His head ached slightly — he must have had more to drink than he thought - but as he brought up his hand to massage his forehead, a soft thunk sounded from the other room, like something had fallen to the floor. He sat up slowly. His eyes widened, as if that would help him see better in his darkened room, and he leaned forward, his ears straining for any other sound, unconsciously dragging his sheets up further to cover himself. Thunk! There it was again.

"No, no, no, no, no," he muttered softly to himself, bringing his knees up to his chest as if that would protect him from whatever was happening in the living area. He stayed that way for the rest of the night. Not sleeping another wink, even long after the noises stopped and peace settled on the apartment.

Only when the sun had been up for more than a couple of hours, and the whole apartment was bathed in light, did Ohkura finally move, carefully creeping out into the living area. His toe nudged something on the floor and he jumped, letting out a small scream, before he realised it was one of his manga. In fact it was a whole pile of manga lying at the base of his bookshelf, as if someone had gone through and grabbed each book before dropping it on the floor. He reached down and picked up one of the books — just like yesterday with the figurines, the book was cold to the touch — and dropped it. Yes, that was the sound he'd been hearing all night. The rest of the apartment appeared untouched.

***

He was in Yasu's apartment, curled up on the couch, hugging a cushion.

"You had burglars?" Yasu asked concerned as he handed Ohkura a cup of hot tea. "Already? I thought that was a good neighbourhood."

Ohkura took the tea gratefully, the warmth infusing through his fingers and finally banishing the cold feeling that had been permeating his fingers since he'd touched the books earlier. He shook his head at Yasu's words. They weren't getting it at all. Admittedly, maybe his retelling had been a little incoherent. "No, nothing else was touched. And nothing was stolen."

"You said yourself you were tired," Yoko offered.

"I'm not imagining this." _Great_ , now his friends thought he was crazy.

"Then what are you suggesting?" Yoko asked amused. "That your apartment is haunted."

"Yes," Ohkura stated, then realised how ridiculous that must sound. "No." He threw his hands up in the air. "I don't know."

Yasu walked over to him. "It's alright," he reassured, "we'll figure this out." He turned to Yoko, who was busy typing something on his phone. "Won't we?"

Yoko hummed in agreement. He didn't seem to be taking this seriously at all.

"Maybe there was an earthquake," Yasu suggested. "It could have caused your shelf to destabilise."

"Wouldn't the books have fallen all at once? And nothing else moved." Plus, he was pretty sure he would have felt an earthquake.

"Found it!" Yoko called out and then held his phone out for Ohkura. Ohkura took it and looked at the screen. It looked like Yoko had performed a google search for ghost-busting and exorcist companies.

"Do you think this is necessary? We don't even know for sure it is a ghost." He couldn't really think of any other explanation, but— _ghosts_ — it was just so weird.

Yasu looked over his shoulder. "It couldn't hurt to try. But let's go over to your place first and have a look around. Maybe we'll find some other explanation."

***

Ohkura pushed the door open, but hesitated on the threshold. Yasu bustled past him, toeing his shoes off in genkan before walking into the apartment. Yoko went right behind him.

"Good morning, Ghost," Yasu cheerfully announced to the room.

"Yo, Ghost!" Yoko greeted.

"You really think that's going to work?"

"Can't hurt to be friendly," Yasu replied.

"Yeah, c'mon ghost. Give us a sign," Yoko yelled to the room.

They all stilled. For a moment there was nothing, and then a cushion rose from the couch and went sailing through the room. Yoko had to duck so it wouldn't hit him.

"Woah!" Yoko yelled.

The three of them exchanged looks.Then, they all ducked for cover as the cushion kept being thrown around the room, like they were in some demented game of dodgeball.

***

"Good morning," A bored voice answered the phone. "You've reached Maruyama's ghost-busting service. This is Murakami speaking. How may I help you?"

"I have a ghost in my apartment," Ohkura whispered down the phone line.

"Have you checked for gas leaks?"

That wasn't the answer Ohkura had been expecting to hear. "Eh?"

The person on the other end of the line still sounded bored as he explained. "Most hauntings are actually caused by gas leaks. That dread feeling and depressive air is actually Carbon Monoxide poisoning."

"Does Carbon Monoxide throw cushions at you?" Ohkura asked testily. He'd didn't know what he'd been expecting, but it wasn't this disbelief at his problem — not from a ghost-busting service.

"Not usually," Murakami admitted. "Is that what's happening now?"

"Yes," Ohkura hissed as the cushion slammed into the pillar he was hiding behind.

"Alright, calm down."

"Calm down," Ohkura screeched. "Are you or are you not, a ghost-busting service?"

"We are," Murakami answered blandly.

"You don't sound it," Ohkura accused.

"It helps to have a sceptic on board — I can cut down on the number of false callouts that are made. Maru's a very busy man."

"You get so many callouts you have to screen them for fakes?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Murakami answered.

"Well, we're not fakes, so send him over here now!"

"Alright, Alright," Murakami still sounded like he was just humouring a whack job, but he took down Ohkura's address and promised that Maru would be over as soon as possible. Ohkura ended the call and peeked out from behind the pillar.

"Enough! Enough!" Yoko called out across the room. "We give up!"

The cushion immediately dropped to the floor. It took another few moments before the three humans emerged from their hiding spots. Yoko flopping down on the couch.

"Your ghost is exhausting," he said, as Ohkura picked up the cushion from the middle of the room, now cold to the touch, and joined him.

Yasu squeezed into the space between them. "It was fun."

"Fun?" Ohkura asked in disbelief.

Yasu nodded.

"All I know is I'm starved," Yoko added.

"I suppose I could cook lunch," Ohkura agreed, "As long as no-one is throwing cushions at me," he added to the room at large. The room remained still and silent. Ohkura supposed that was all the agreement he was going to get.

"Do you suppose he eats?" Yasu asked.

"You think ghost's eat?"

"Are we sure it's a he?" Yoko pointed out. It was a fair question.

"Hey ghost, are you a guy ghost or a girl ghost?" Yasu called out.

"How's he supposed to answer that?" Ohkura wondered.

The answer came in the form of one of Ohkura's plushies floating out of his bedroom. It was one of a set of boy plushies that had been custom-made a year or so ago as a kind of in-joke between their friends; each one made to resemble a specific person. The ghost had picked out the one resembling Yasu and it was now dancing around the room. The ghost dropped little Yasu's pants — it's little cloth penis on display — and waved it around in front of all of them.

"I guess that answers that question." Yoko laughed as he batted the doll away from his face.

***

They were halfway through lunch when the doorbell rang. Ohkura rose from his place at the table to answer it.

"Murakami Shingo, answering your earlier call," the man at the door introduced himself.

"You brought the," Ohkura lowered his voice to a whisper, suddenly not wanting the ghost to overhear, "ghost-buster?"

In answer, Murakami stepped aside. Another man with brown hair and a wide, infectious smile, practically bounded into the room, barely pausing to kick off his shoes, and started running around the apartment making weird sounds and gestures as he did so.

Ohkura shared confused looks with both Yoko and Yasu, before turning to Murakami, who just shrugged.

"It's what he does," the man replied, moving into the apartment properly. "He's Maru, by the way. Maruyama Ryuhei."

Maru waved as he raced by.

"There is definitely a presence here," Maru announced.

"You can see it?" Ohkura asked.

"Of course," Maru answered. The look of surety on his face collapsed a little into a sheepish grin. "Well, it's more like his aura, really," he admitted, "but his presence is quite strong. It's a very vibrant red."

"Red," Ohkura couldn't helped the alarm in his voice.

"Yes." Maru looked at him curiously. "Is that a problem?"

"Well, doesn't that mean he's angry or something?" Maybe the cushions hadn't been a game.

Maru tilted his head in confusion. "Not especially, no. Has he seemed angry to you?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Ah," Maru cried like he'd just had a sudden realisation. He put on a lecturing tone, though it was somewhat defeated by the fact that he couldn't seem to keep a straight face at the same time. "It's a common misconception that aura's relate to personality — the colour itself is just random — it's more the hues that flash and ebb through; those will tell you the things you need to know about the person."

"Assuming you know how to read them," Murakami interjected. His tone maybe suggested that he wasn't entirely convinced about Maru's abilities in this area.

Yasu, who had been listening intently to Maru's words, asked, "Oooh, what's my aura colour?"

"Blue," Maru answered almost immediately, "And he's Black," he added, pointing to Yoko. Maru then rushed right up into Ohkura's personal space. Ohkura instinctively leaned back a little, but he didn't move away, like he normally would have done at someone intruding on his space so suddenly.

"And you are a lovely shade of green," he paused for a moment frowning, "though there seems to be some hint of ye—," he broke off suddenly. "—yeah, maybe we should get to talking to the ghost. Shin-chan, can you bring out the board."

Murakami nodded, putting down the bag he'd been carrying and opening it to produce a rectangular board with the hiragana characters on them. He laid it down on Ohkura's coffee table and then produced a small wedge of wood and placed it onto the board as well.

"Ooh, is that a ouija board?" Yasu asked. "Should we light candles? Darken the room?"

"Not unless you're looking to creep yourself out," Murakami answered.

"This will be fine." Maru smiled reassuringly as he beckoned them all to sit down around the board. Once they had all gathered around, Maru spoke. "Since the presence is so strong and you claim it's already moved objects around, I think we can forgo touching the speaking wedge. It should be able to move it itself." He looked at each person around the table in turn. "So, who wants to go first?" he asked.

"We should ask his name," Yasu suggested. Everyone nodded agreement.

"A wise choice." Maru nodded as if that was the expected outcome. He took a deep breath and raised his hands up into the air. After a moment he stopped and gestured to everyone else to do the same. Ohkura raised his own hands into the air, copying Maru's movements.

"Oh spirit," Maru intoned, his voice deeper than it had been so far. It sounded ominous and Ohkura shivered a little as it felt like the temperature in the room suddenly dropped a few degrees. It didn't last long, however, as Maru's voice suddenly turned soft, his tone sheepish. "If it's not too much trouble, could you please tell us your name?"

Ohkura held his breath as he stared at the board. One second. Two seconds. The wedge shook a little. Despite the events that had happened so far, Ohkura still couldn't help but cry out in fear a little, even if it was what they had been waiting for. As the wedge began to move properly, Ohkura felt a warm hand take his own. It should have made him jump, but instead it somehow reassured him. He glanced to his left where Maru was now holding his hand a soft expression on his face as he watched the board. Ohkura turned back — luckily the wedge was moving slowly and he hadn't missed anything. Everyone mouthed the characters as it haltingly moved from one to the other.

Shi...bu..ta..ni…

They waited a few seconds but the wedge had stopped. Shibutani — that was the ghost's name.

"Shibutani-san, nice to meet you," Yasu yelled into the room. They all grinned excitedly at each other.

"Hey, it's moving again," Yoko pointed out. They all turned back to the board.

Su...ba...ru

"Subaru. Shibutani Subaru. Nice name." Maru smiled

After that, Maru asked a few more questions, mostly about Subaru's motivations (thankfully, they were good, or at least not ill-intentioned), and yet some seemed odd — much like Maru himself seemed to be. He insisted they were all very important though and, Ohkura had to admit, talking to a ghost was not half as creepy as he was expecting it to be.

***

It was surprising how used to things you could get, Ohkura mused to himself, as he watched Maru, currently in the process of, well truthfully he wasn't quite sure what the man was doing, but it seemed chaotic. In fact, everything Maru did seemed chaotic. He'd been around for a few days now, barring rushing out for a few "emergencies" (the air quotes added courtesy of one Murakami Shingo) and Ohkura found himself laughing more and more, the other man's sunny personality infectious. Whenever Maru noticed Ohkura's laughter, his movements became even more exaggerated. It was an endless loop. At one point, Ohkura felt a smack on the back of his head. He rubbed it as he turned to the offender.

"You shouldn't encourage him so much," Murakami complained. "How am I supposed to get anyone to take him seriously if he just looks like he's goofing off all the time."

"I think it's fine," Ohkura replied. "It's comforting. If he's being silly, it can't be all that bad."

"I told you so," Maru sing-songed from where he was balancing on one foot in the middle of the hallway to the bathroom. Ohkura blushed; embarrassed that Maru had overheard them.

"Great," Murakami sighed, though his voice sounded both fond and amused, despite the complaining, "Now I'll never get him to calm down."

Maru just grinned as he came running out of the hallway, skidding to a stop in front of them.

"Does it normally take this long?" Ohkura asked.

Maru tilted his head to the side as he thought about it. "Sometimes," he eventually settled on. "Sometimes the ghosts are bad or destructive and you want to get rid of them as fast as possible." He started pacing as he talked. "But sometimes they're nice, like your ghost," he paused to wave at the room in general before continuing, "and you want to make sure they are going someplace nice and that suits them."

"There are different places they can go?"

"Of course. The afterlife isn't just one big room for the good people and one for the bad. There are multitudes."

That made sense, Ohkura supposed. Not everyone had the same idea about what was a good time or deserving reward for their lifetime habits, and the reverse was probably true too for the bad eggs among the population.

***

"Does he have to be banished?" Yasu pleaded from where he'd just finished conversing with Subaru on the ouija board. He pouted, which Ohkura was always weak to, and looked so forlorn that Ohkura felt a moment of weakness and almost gave in. But then he remembered that this was a ghost living in his apartment, not a person — it was just impossible.

"What else are we going to do with him?"

"I don't know, but it can't be nice to force him to leave if he doesn't want to go."

Ohkura narrowed his eyes. Had that been what they'd been talking about. Yasu had been almost whispering, and Ohkura hadn't been paying all that much attention to Yasu. He'd been cooking lunch for everyone and chatting happily with Maru, who was rather still for the moment, sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter just watching Ohkura cook.

"I can't live with a ghost," he replied, turning away from Yasu's pout. "Sorry," he added to the room after a moment. Yasu was right, Subaru did seem like he was nice enough, and Ohkura didn't want to hurt his feelings, but it was too much. He could handle it during the day, sometimes it was even fun — especially when trying to talk to him through the ouija board — but night time was different story. Subaru didn't seem to sleep and had a habit of playing with all Ohkura's stuff when he was trying to rest. This led to sleepless nights and a tired, shaken and grumpy Ohkura the next day. Things going bump in the night just wasn't good for Ohkura's constitution. Only Maru's energetic presence was keeping Ohkura on an even keel. Ohkura should probably think about why that was, but he was somewhat reluctant to shake the status quo. Thoughts of Ryo and that relationship causing a lump in his throat and a deep ache in his heart, holding him back.

"I just can't live with a ghost," he repeated, more softly.

"And definitely not two," Maru interjected. Ohkura turned towards him, his brow furrowed at Maru's words. _What the hell had that meant?_

He shook his head to clear it. "It just wouldn't work," he reiterated.

Yasu looked dejected, but then a thought must have occurred to him because his face transformed into a smile.

"Maybe I could take him," he suggested. "It would be fun to live with a ghost."

"Is that possible?" Ohkura asked Maru.

Maru hummed in concentration. "Well, at the moment he's bound to the apartment. The only way to do it would be to bind Subaru to the owner of the apartment instead and then transfer that bond to another person."

"Well, let's do that then." Yasu said, excitement shining through. "Shibuyan, want to come live with me?" he asked the apartment at large. The door to the storage cupboard flung open and one of Ohkura's suitcases rolled out.

Maru and Yasu grinned at each other, and even Ohkura couldn't help the smile on his face.

"We'll take that as a yes then," Maru said.

***

Setting up a bonding ritual, was rather a complicated process. First they had to determine the exact spot that tied Subaru to the apartment. This involved Maru walking carefully around the apartment with a y-shaped stick, his hands on the forked side as he waved the single end around.

"Isn't that for finding water?"

"Water, ghosts," Maru tapped the side of his head, "it's more about what's going on up here and focusing the connection."

Once the spot had been discovered — in front of the window in the bedroom (it was a nice view; Ohkura could see why Subaru might like it there) — Maru started drawing a ring around the spot with some white powder.

"Is that flour?" Ohkura knew he was probably being annoying asking so many questions but it staved off him thinking about just exactly what he'd agreed too. Bonding with a ghost, even temporarily, was a scary thought — and what if he couldn't transfer it to Yasu — would he be stuck with it forever?

"Specifically, rice flour," Maru replied. Thankfully he didn't seem at all bothered by Ohkura's constant questions. "I tried it once with ordinary flour and—" he trailed off. "I probably shouldn't tell that story."

From where he was sitting on the bed, with his bag of supplies ready to hand to Maru, Murakami burst into laughter. He wiped a tear from his eye and said, "No, you probably shouldn't."

 _Great,_ Ohkura thought. He shared a worried glance with Yasu, who gave him a reassuring smile back, and Yoko, who looked like he was finding the whole process highly amusing.

With the circle drawn, Maru got Ohkura to stand in the middle of the circle. Ohkura tentatively stepped into the ring. "Are you sure this is safe?" he asked.

"Perfectly," Maru answered. "Now, close your eyes."

Ohkura did as was instructed. Around him Maru started chanting. It sounded like nonsense words to Ohkura's ears, but after a few moments he felt like there was pressure building up around him. He opened his mouth to say something, when all of a sudden, an almost freezing coldness flushed through his whole body. "Yaah!!!" he cried out and dropped to his knees. It lasted only a moment, but it left behind a residual chilliness, that felt like it was embedded right within his bones. He felt hands on his arms, warm and reassuring and Ohkura instinctively reached out to hug that warmth.

"It's okay," a voice was repeating softly over and over in his ear. After a few minutes, Ohkura calmed down and opened his eyes. He was in Maru's arms, with the other's circled around them, concern etched on their faces.

He swallowed heavily. "I'm alright," he said, though he didn't let go of Maru's embrace. Maru didn't seem to mind. Everyone else breathed a sigh of relief at his words.

"See, I told you it would work," Maru said.

"So, Subaru is—,"

"Bonded to you," Maru finished Ohkura's sentence. "How does it feel?"

"Cold," He tried to feel Subaru's presence, but other than the chill in his body, he couldn't feel anything else different. He turned to Yasu. "Are you sure you want this."

Yasu nodded. "Absolutely."

Maru helped him to his feet, and while he was a little wobbly at first, he soon regained his footing.

"So now what?" Ohkura asked.

Maru's expression turned reluctant, and Ohkura suddenly felt scared again. Maru hadn't said it would be bad earlier, but maybe he'd been holding back.

"What?'" he repeated.

Maru dropped his head, his gaze fixated on the floor, or maybe his feet, where he kicked the ground slightly. "You'll have to kiss him," he mumbled, nodding towards Yasu. "To transfer it over."

"Kiss?"

"It's the only way."

"So Yasu won't be able to kiss anyone ever again?" Yoko asked. Ohkura hadn't thought of that — then again, if he kept Subaru, wouldn't he be in the same position? Yasu shrugged as if that didn't matter at all to him.

"No, no, no," Maru replied, recovering from his bout of timidity as he explained to Yoko. "Both the ghost and the new host has to want the move, or it will never work. Since we know Subaru wants to be with Yasu, and Yasu wants to take it on, it should be fine.

Ohkura felt relief at Maru's words. He wasn't condemning Yasu to a life of celibacy by doing this, even if it was what his friend wanted. Still, kissing his best friend wasn't something he'd ever thought of doing before. His palms suddenly felt sweaty and he looked around awkwardly, not meeting Yasu's gaze.

"So, is there anything else to it?" He asked.

"Nope," Maru replied.

Ohkura looked around again. Could he really kiss Yasu while everyone was watching? Maybe he should ask them all to leave the room. Yes, that would be much more comfortable for everyone involved.

"Oh, c'mon, stop being silly," Yasu said, and the next thing Ohkura knew, Yasu was in his space, his arms reaching up to pull Ohkura down into a searing kiss. Ohkura was so surprised at the suddenness of Yasu's movements that he found himself responding to the kiss before he knew it, all thoughts of ghosts and transference and their friends, flying out of his mind, to focus on the feel of Yasu's lips pressed against his own.

It was only when Yasu broke the kiss, gasping wildly, did Ohkura come back to his senses. He realised that the feeling of coldness had left his body and he was warm again. He looked over to his friend, who was slowly recovering.

"Did it work?" Ohkura asked, just to be sure.

"Mmm, it worked," Maru replied, though he was back to sounding down.

"How do you feel?" Yoko asked Yasu as he lent a steadying hand to the other.

Yasu thought about it for a moment. "Weird," he replied slowly, "but good." He shook off Yoko's hands and bowed to the room. "Thank you for letting me take care of you," he spoke to the room. The cupboard door banged open and shut in response causing everyone in the room to jump.

"Great, I'm glad that's done. I'm starving," Yoko grumbled. "Want to get something to eat?"

Yasu nodded eagerly, but Ohkura begged off and surprisingly Maru did likewise. Yoko turned to Murakami, who agreed to go after he'd helped finish cleaning up.

"Well don't take too long, or we might just leave without you," Yoko joked, before dragging Yasu out of the room, despite the other's protests, telling him that he should rest until he's used to his new conditions rather than helping to clean up.

Murakami produced a dustpan and brush from out of his bag and began to clean up the flour. Ohkura was starting to wonder just how much stuff he was carrying in that backpack. He turned towards Maru to ask him, but the other man was still staring at the same spot on the floor, a sad look on his face.

"Is everything alright?" Ohkura asked, concerned. He'd never seen Maru like this before and it was unnerving.

"Fine," Maru replied sullenly. "Everything went according to plan."

"Then what's wrong?"

"He likes you and he got jealous watching you kiss some other guy." Murakami interjected.

Maru finally looked up from his floor contemplation to throw Murakami a horrified look. "Shin-chan!" he complained.

Murakami shrugged. "What? Sometimes you need a translator."

Ohkura, for his part, could only stare at the two men. His shock at Murakami's words filtering through his system. Maru _liked_ him? That was impossible. Except the look on Maru's face, not denying Murakami's words, told him the truth. Ohkura wasn't ready for that. _Was he?_ He couldn't be — not after Ryo. It was too soon. And yet, he did feel a connection with Maru, one that he recognised could be special. But, no, it was too soon. Ohkura's thoughts whirled around and around. The other two were looking at him, waiting for his reaction. He opened his mouth to speak,

"I should—um—I mean—. I'll leave you to it." Ohkura fled the room.

***

Maru and Murakami came out a few minutes later. Yoko whined that it was about time, but as the three left the apartment, both he and Yasu threw worried looks Ohkura's way. When Ohkura had come out of the bedroom in a rush, they had both tried to ask what was wrong. Even Subaru had thrown a cushion his way, a gesture Ohkura took to be an attempt at comforting him.

Ohkura had shaken his head, an indication he didn't want to talk, and retreated to the kitchen. Thankfully both men had respected his wishes, and while he could see them watching him carefully and quietly whispering to each other, he was grateful. He busied himself making tea, the familiar process soothing and calming him down.

Once they'd gone, Maru walked tentatively over to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry for upsetting you," Maru said, bowing. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

In reply, Ohkura just pushed a cup of tea over the counter towards him. Maru looked at it for a moment before smiling gently and taking a seat on the stool. He brought the tea to his lips and took a sip.

"Ah," he cooed, "your aura said you'd be a good tea maker."

Ohkura couldn't help but laugh at that statement. "My aura said that?."

Maru nodded. "It tells me a lot."

Ohkura took his own drink of tea. He wondered just how much about him Maru could read. Suddenly the counter-top seemed fascinating. He focused on it as he spoke. Despite the risk he wanted Maru to understand.

"I got out of a relationship not that long ago. A serious one."

"It ended badly." It was more a statement than a question.

Ohkura grunted in agreement. "Did you get that from my aura?"

Maru shook his head. "No, just your face."

"Yeah, well." Ohkura wasn't sure what else to say. "He wanted to follow a different path. One I couldn't take with him."

"I can sometimes see him in your aura still though," Maru admitted after a moment. "Like a presence that you don't want to let go of."

"And you can't compete with a ghost," Ohkura offered. He understood why Maru hadn't said anything about liking him earlier.

To that Maru laughed, getting up from his seat and walking around the counter until he was face to face with Ohkura. Then he struck a body-builder pose. "I'm a ghost-buster. I'm an expert at competing with ghosts."

"What if you can't?" It was a big unvoiced fear of Ohkura's. What if he could never get over Ryo? It had made him reluctant to even try up until now, pushing all thoughts of even attempting a new relationship to the back of his mind.

"Well, all I can do is try, if you'll let me." Maru waved his hands about over Ohkura's form. "If heard it's easier to move on if the new person has a compatible aura."

Ohkura thought about that. Then he recalled a conversation from earlier. "I thought you said your aura was orange?"

Maru nodded. "That's right."

"And mine is green?"

Maru nodded again.

"Don't those two colours clash?"

"Terribly." Maru grinned.

"Terribly," Ohkura repeated, he couldn't help but break out in a wide smile to match Maru's.

"Very terribly." Maru edged in closer until their lips were almost touching. Ohkura understood — he needed to be the one to close the gap and start this relationship, to make the commitment to start over and let go of the past, or at least try. Ohkura took a deep breath and pressed his lips to Maru's. Maru responded immediately, his lips moving against Ohkura's, and Ohkura melted into it.

As he came up for air, he contemplated the kiss. Maru threw himself into everything with passion and energy and it was no different with kissing. It was so distinct from his earlier kiss with Yasu, poles apart from Ryo's intensity, _but_ , Ohkura thought, he could definitely get used to this.


End file.
